Researchers Discover Leukemia's Role in Inhibiting Immune Cell Development

Story Highlights Cross-County Collaboration Between UCSF, Harvard that Led to Discovery

Emmanuelle Passegue, PhD, right, speaks with a colleague in her lab at UCSF's Parnassus campus.

UCSF’s Emmanuelle Passegué, PhD, an expert on how the blood system arises during development, recently led a study in which researchers discovered how leukemia, a blood cancer, can gain a stronghold in bone marrow and inhibit the development of normal immune cells.

Passegué, a researcher with the UCSF Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, and colleagues – including long-term collaborator Amy Wagers, PhD, a professor at Harvard University’s Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology – found that leukemia cells cause other nearby cells to abnormally deposit collagen and inflammatory proteins, leading to fibrosis – or scarring – of the bone marrow cavity.